Galactic Savior
by Kachie Takahashi
Summary: This is a documentary based around Q&A involving the crew of the Normandy about the great Commander Shepard, hero of the Citadel, conqueror of the Collectors, Savior of the Galaxy. Diana Allers interviews Shepard's squad, and other members of her crew including Joker, and Dr. Chakwas (Later chapters) to discover the heart of the woman who saved all life in the galaxy.
1. Ashley Williams

**A/N: I probably shouldn't have started a new story... bah. But this is something new I wanted.. to try. I seem to keep doing this to myself lol.**

**This is something that came to me quite at random... I was trying to work on my story Art of War, when this sudden.. thing popped into mind. I have been reading World War Z again (I'm sure some of you know what book that is), when I thought... I've never seen a fanfic written in this manner, and how interesting could that be? **

**This will be mostly in an interview format... Allers will ask a question, the crew member will answer in their own way. I hope it's an interesting read.**

**I guess we're about to find out..**

**A Galactic Savior**

**Diana Allers and Ashley Williams**

[The SSV is back in flight, from an unexplored planet somewhere in the Attican Traverse. It has been a long few weeks since the Reaper War has ended. This will be a collection of memories and stories, a tribute, if you will, to the woman who saved the entire galaxy.

I have had the pleasure to be the first reporter aboard the _Normandy. _She is a fine ship, with a dedicated crew. It seems lack luster these days, however. The commanding officer, Commander Alexia (Alex for short) Shepard is missing in action. Long range communication are down, and we have had no word from Earth. It would seem our quantum entanglement communicator was one of the things heavily damaged when we crash landed on an uncharted planet.

There was a sense of confusion at first. We weren't even sure if the crucible had worked. However, we did get some small communication from Liara T'soni that the Reapers had indeed been defeated. It is over, and at first there was a sense of relief from the crew. But then the sense of loss.

So much was sacrificed, and if I were not aboard this ship through most of the war I don't think even I would believe just how... lost this crew feels without Shepard, or just how dedicated she was to fighting the Reapers. From what I have gathered in my interviews with this crew she had been fighting against the Reapers for the past three years. She put everything on the line, including her self image, to warn the people of the Galaxy, and the council. I wonder if we had listened to her sooner if the losses we all now feel would be significantly less.

I decided to start this documentary with someone who was there with Shepard from the very beginning. Or nearly the beginning. You see this started out with a Spectre, a turian named Nihlus, and a small ground team consisting of Commander Shepard, Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko and Corporal Richard Jenkins, the latter two having died in action. Corporal Jenkins died on Eden Prime during the Geth attack three years ago, and Lieutenant Alenko later on a mission on the planet Virmire.

This will start with the recounting from Lieutenant Commander Ashley Williams, once Gunnery Chief, but since promoted.]

**Allers:** Lieutenant Commander, I understand you have been apart of Shepard's squad since she found you on Eden Prime during the Geth Attack.

**LC Williams: **Yes, that's right. I was apart of the 212 when the Geth attacked. My entire unit was wiped out by the Geth before Shepard was able to land on the planet. Hell, if it weren't for the Commander I'd of died too. The Geth out numbered us ten to one.

**Allers: **Could you please tell us about your experience with the Commander since then?

**Williams:** First I have to say that Alex Shepard was a brave and selfless woman. She fought with honor, and never gave up even when everything seemed hopeless.

**Allers:** I'm sorry, I don't mean to interrupt already, but could you elaborate on how she was selfless?

**Williams**: She always put others ahead of herself. She even worked with Cerberus for a short time... Nobody trusted her during her tour with them, myself included. I'm not proud of my distrust in her now, but at the time I just did not trust Cerberus and what they may have done to her. But Shepard was the sort of woman who never thought of her own image, needs, or wants. She made sure everyone else around her was safe, or even on a personal level happy before she thought of herself. It's an amazing quality these days, not many people are like that anymore.

Shepard also fought harder than any of us to stop the Reapers from invading, but when it did happen, she fought to bring the galaxy together. You never think just how divided society is until you need to rally them under one banner. She was always so tired during the war. I figure it was because she was always so busy trying to unite the Krogan and the Turians, and after that the Geth and the Quarians.

**Allers: **Would you care to share some personal stories about yourself and Commander Shepard? Things you might have done during off duty hours, or even stories from the battle field?

**Williams:** Unfortunately we didn't get much down time, especially after the war started. After the Reapers began attacking Earth and other home worlds, it was like one mission after the other. Shepard was always keeping herself busy too, nose first in data pads and casualty reports. But we did get some down time before that.

As far as battlefield stories well... She was relentless. We had our idle banter from time to time, and she wasn't a harsh leader but she knew how to keep us all focused. Just one look and we were pretty encouraged to do our duty. We all wanted to do her proud.

On our personal time... not many know this, but Shepard had a small interest in poetry. We use to share our favorite poems back and forth when we had the chance during our mission against Saren. Sometimes we even had small contests between just the two of us. One of us would say a single line or start a poem and we'd see if the other knew the rest, and who the poet was.

**Allers:** Do you know which poem was her favorite?

**Williams: **She and I both enjoy Tennyson. She's a lot like my dad, she loved the poem Ulysses.

I cannot rest from travel: I will drink

Life to the lees: All times I have enjoy'd

Greatly, have suffer'd greatly, both with those

That loved me, and alone.

I think that this line alone suites the Commander. She went through hardships some of us will never fully understand, even though we were right there with her. We could support her as best we knew how, but when... When people died she blamed herself for it. Perhaps not openly with all of us, but we could see it in her eyes. I think that's what exhausted her the most.

When the LT... Sorry, when Kaidan Alenko died on Virmire she blamed herself for weeks. I initially blamed myself but she wouldn't have it that way. She said it was not my fault, and she said she should have planned the mission better but as I look t it now... It wasn't her fault either.

**Allers: **So when people were dieing on Earth by the Reapers...

**Williams:** (Without pause) She blamed herself. She felt she didn't try hard enough to warn others about the Reaper invasion. She didn't tell me directly, but I heard her speaking with Liara T'soni in the mess one night. Everyone else was getting some sleep, and normally I would have been in bed myself, but it was a sleepless night. They didn't see me, but I heard them. She held such a heavy burden on her shoulders, and I don't know how she could keep fighting that way, but she wouldn't allow herself to give up. I think that's something I admired most about her.

**Allers: **Why do you think she blamed herself for those who died so much?

**Williams: **I think it was just... who she was. She wanted to save people, she didn't like seeing them get hurt, or worse. I think that if saving everyone meant her giving her own life, she would have done so without second thought. She was amazing that way. I can see why so many look up to her. She gave everyone under her command something too. Garrus Vakarian once told me how she helped him cope when he lost his squad on Omega. He wanted revenge, hell I would have wanted it to. He wanted to drill some turian right between the eyes with his sniper, but she managed to talk him down. I guess she did similar for Tali'Zorah, our resident Quarian.

**Allers: **How would you label your personal relationship with Commander Shepard?

**Williams:** She has been one of the best friends I could have ever asked for. When my sister's husband died... She was there for both of us. She even attended our personal service for him on the Citadel. I didn't even have to finish asking her to come before she told me she would be there. Hell she didn't even know him, she never even met my sister before that, and she was there for them both. She even said a little something for him when my sister put his picture on the wall in the refugee camp.

She was like that for everyone she knew I suspect. She was there for the crew. She was so giving. Sometimes I think she was a little too giving. I wish she could have taken some time for herself. Especially when she hadn't heard word about her mother for half the war. I'm sure it weighed heavily on her mind.

**Allers:** Do you think she confided in anyone about those sort of things? Like worrying about her mother, or when she needed to think about herself?

**Williams: **I hope she did. No, I'm pretty sure she did. Liara T'soni and Shepard were... pretty close. They never openly admitted it to the crew, but we all saw what was happening between them. We suspected they had started an intimate relationship with each other back during the hunt for Saren. Shepard was sort of a private person. She kept things to herself.

**Allers: **How was she a private person?

**Williams: **When we were on shore leave once, during her first mission as a Spectre. We were all hanging out at the old bar on the Citadel, Flux, she and I got to talking. I asked why she never openly vented about her frustrations. I know the rest of us did... She was an easy person to open up to. She never judged any of us when we would just let loose. She told me she didn't want to be a burden on anyone.

I never pushed her on it after that. I mean sometimes I would ask how she was doing, but she usually dodged the question with a joke. How she got to be that way I don't know. I think it was just part of who she was.

**Allers: **Did anyone ever second guess Shepard's decisions?

**Williams: **I think when Shepard willingly worked with Cerberus we all wondered what she was thinking... Cerberus was known to do questionable things. They were labeled as terrorists by both the Council and the Alliance. Hell, our own people didn't like Cerberus. But she must of had her reasons. I questioned her about it quite a bit when I first rejoined her crew when the Reaper war started... I wasn't sure if she had changed, or if Cerberus had forced some sort of change. Like I said before I regret ever doubting her.

Otherwise no. She gave an order and we followed it.

**Allers:** If Shepard were here right now, and you could say anything to her, anything at all, what would it be?

**Williams: **Shepard, we may not have said it to you enough... hell some of us never did, we thought it sure, I know we all did... But we were proud to serve under you. You are the hope of the galaxy, you were able to do things everyone else can only dream of. You've accomplished so much, and gave everyone second, and even third chances. You were the best in all of us.

I hope that you're still alive out there.


	2. Garrus Vakarian

**A/N: Here we go again. Hopefully the first chapter was alright for you guys. I will adjust each chapter if I get constructive criticism to do so. I will also... possibly post a few chapters at a time. They are fairly easy to write lol. Anyways on to the next**

Chapter Two

**Garrus Vakarian**

[The journey back to Earth will take some time, according to Joker. I suppose this will be plenty of time to speak to the crew, and gather notes for when this document goes public. I have seen some solum faces in my time, but after I finished interviewing Williams, she had seemed like she lost a sister, more than a friend. I had seen plenty of that within the crew. My next interviewee was no different.]

**Allers**: I understand that you and Commander Shepard were close friends?

**Vakarian**: I'd consider her to be my closest friend among many I have known. We had a lot in common, and held the same ideas and views on things. Especially with the effort against the Reapers. Really I followed her lead, but she had the right idea.

**Allers: ** Could you describe your relationship with her?

**Vakarian**: We met when she was hunting down leads involving the rogue Spectre Saren. She needed evidence on him, and I was the lead investigator on the matter. I was stone walled at every turn, but she was determined to show the Council he had turned on them. Something about that inspired me.

She allowed me to join her crew. I was the first... (He holds up his hands and signs quotation marks in the air) "alien" in her crew. Wrex joined up right after, then Tali. Then we picked up Liara within a few days.

My relationship with the commander was comradery at first, but as I got to know her... She became something of an adopted sister. We joked around a lot, and she is what lead me to be the soldier I am today. She was a very guiding person that way.

**Allers**: How did the Alliance feel about having aliens on the Normandy?

**Vakarian**: There was some human, apparently Shepard's superior, I forget his name now... He did an inspection on the _Normandy _and was rather vocal on his dislike of her non-human crew members. As for the rest of the human Alliance, I'm not sure. I'll take a guess that they weren't feeling any better about it than him.

**Allers**: Williams described Commander Shepard as a selfless woman. Would you agree with that statement and why?

**Vakarian**: I would agree. Shepard was always thinking three steps ahead of everyone else, and she rarely thought of herself when she made decisions. She helped a lot of us back when the _Normandy_ was flying under Cerberus colors. She took time away from herself to help others before we hit the Collector base.

She was always ready to help someone. Even she never knew them. There was a woman, on Omega... She lost her daughter to a serial killer. At first Shepard was helping an asari Justicar in her crew, Samara. Samara wanted help getting ahold of this serial killer but when Shepard had learned that a young girl had gotten caught up in the... mess.. Well at that point Shepard was more about getting closure for the victim's mother.

**Allers:** Williams mentioned she helped you when you had a squad. Would you be willing to discuss it?

**Vakarian: **It's a sensitive subject. After Shepard had died, I went to Omega, thinking I could do some good. I never told her, but it was my way of showing her respect. That she taught me I could do good for the sake of others if I put my mind to it. I messed up in the end. All I care to say about it is she stopped me from doing something I might have regretted later.

**Allers: **Did Shepard ever take any time for herself during her mission to stop the Collectors?

**Vakarian:** I think you could say she did. Once. She was pretty focused on stopping the Collectors and helping everyone else, but she had helped Liara T'soni out with a personal matter. I think it was for both Liara's sake as well as Shepard's.

**Allers: **Could you explain this in more detail?

**Vakarian:** I can't give you much more detail than that. It was deemed classified information. Personal matters. I think it's Liara's call to tell you what happened. I can tell you it gave Shepard closure in the end. She was always there for all of us, but Liara especially. Shepard cares for our resident prothean expert you see. But by helping Liara Shepard was able to find some closure for herself as well.

But like I said, if you want more detail you had better ask Liara.

**Allers: ** The people want to know, why did Shepard decide to join Cerberus for one tour?

**Vakarian: **They were the only ones doing anything about the Collectors. Even the Council didn't seem to care what happened to the human colonies. If I were in her place, and the colonies being hit were turians... I think I would have done the same damn thing.

We didn't work for Cerberus anyways. Or that's how I saw it. We just used them to get the job done. If it weren't for them I don't think we would of had the resources to do it alone. They were a necessary evil, as Shepard put it once.

**Allers: **Her time with Cerberus, do you think she regretted it?

**Vakarian: **No. I think she knew that in the end it was something she had to do. No one else seemed willing enough to do anything, and she wasn't about to sit by and watch her people be used by the Reapers.

I think it's the only good thing Cerberus did, bringing her back. She was the only one who could pull off such a mission. If anyone else were in her place nobody would have survived. I doubt anyone else would have even gotten as far as the Collector base. They'd of failed as soon as they reached the other side of the Omega 4 Relay.

**Allers:** Could you tell us some personal stories between you and the Commander?

**Vakarian: **(He chuckles a little) During our search for Saren and his Geth we went out to Flux for some drinks. Shepard was good about giving us a break every now and then. Times weren't as desperate as they were after the Reapers began destroying the galaxy. Anyways, Shepard got pretty tipsy and decided to try dancing.

Shepard may be graceful on the battlefield, but have you seen her try to dance? (Allers shakes her head)

All I can say is: No comment.

**Allers:** Any other stories?

**Vakarian: ** Oh there are a few. I could probably go on all evening, but I'll tell you something we all had to endure.

**Allers: **What might that be?

**Vakarian:** The Mako. She was a horrible driver in that thing. She could make a Krogan sick to his stomach with it. (Vakarian chuckles some). I remember one mission, we were looking for some ancient asari writing on a planet, and Shepard insisted the mako could climb up a mountain slope. Oh it could but we got tossed around so bad we began to tumble down the cliff side. I think T'soni was about to shit herself it scared her so bad. After that Liara refused to go on missions that dealt with the mako.

**Allers:** That... does sound a bit frightening.

**Vakarian: **Oh you have no idea. Even Wrex, a krogan battlemaster who's seen some nasty things in his time, was afraid of Shepard's driving.

**Allers:** How do you think Shepard coped when no one listened to her warnings about the Reapers?

**Vakarian:** She was frustrated. She wouldn't openly admit it, but I could tell. She did the best she could with what she had though. Hell if it weren't for her the Reapers would have invaded three years ago. I think we got lucky. If it weren't for some prothean scientists fifty-thousand years ago delaying the Keepers on the Citadel we would have all been screwed.

But how she coped is beyond me. She was never one to easily give up... A lot of people here are expecting the worst right now... Shepard may be dead, we don't know, but I do know one thing: she made Liara a promise.

**Allers:** A promise?

**Vakarian:** Shepard came to me before... our final push on Earth against the Reapers. She told me to look out for Liara if she didn't make it. She told me she made Liara a promise she was afraid she couldn't keep in the end. But I know Shepard, she keeps her promises.

**Allers:** I'm sorry, but could you tell me what promise that is?

**Vakarian: **She is always coming back. That's all she told me.

**Allers:** How do you think Liara is handling the thought that Shepard may be dead?

**Vakarian:** She's... been better. Shepard was her support system through many things, hell Shepard's been all of our support system at some point, but Liara is very attached to Shepard. If it weren't for Liara's efforts to bring Shepard back, I don't think any of us would be talking right now about how the Reapers were defeated.

**Allers:** I asked Williams the same question, and I decided I want to ask everyone I interview the same question: If Shepard were here right now, what would you say to her?

**Vakarian:** If she were here, I'd say that she is one of the greatest leaders I have ever seen. I have fought many campaigns in my time, but this was one I didn't expect any of us to come out alive from. I'm glad I was wrong, and I was honored to fight along side her against the Reapers.

But I still beat her with a sniper rifle. (If turians could smirk, I imagine Garrus Vakarian was doing so right now)


	3. Tali'Zora vas Normandy

Chapter 3

**Tali'Zorah vas Normandy**

[I have never met a Quarian before signing up on the Normandy. But I have had the pleasure to meet a young Admiral, from what I understand, from the flotilla. Tali'Zorah vas Normandy. She is an intelligent engineer who helps run the ship. She came to me, looking to give me whatever information about Shepard she could. It is hard to read her body language, given her suit, but I could tell she was just as saddened by Shepard's loss.]

**Allers:** Tali, what would you say your relationship with Commander Shepard was like?

**Tali:** Shepard was one of the first humans to show me kindness... She saved me from a man named Fist once. After that she let me on her ship, and I was absolutely amazed with the technology that made it run. She let me become apart of the engineering team, and I was ever grateful for that. Most people, even non-humans, treat Quarians like we are the trash of the galaxy. But not Shepard.

She was an amazing woman that way. She never took someone for granted. She was there for them, no matter what was going on. She... helped me with something when she should have been focusing solely on her mission against the Collectors... She even helped me on my pilgrimage when we were chasing after Saren and the Geth. We had discovered a build up of Geth in one system and the data she collected while we were there... She could have given it to the Alliance, kept it for herself, but she gave me a copy, to help me...

I don't think anyone has ever been so kind to me.

**Allers:** You sound rather fond of Commander Shepard.

**Tali:** She... she was someone anyone could look up to. She was always laughing, and smiling. She was also funny. She would sometimes joke around with me, or Chief Adams in engineering on the first Normandy. She was always so friendly, I don't think I've ever seen her lash out in anger. Not truly anyways. Frustration.. but never anger.

I think that's what I admired most about her. She never let anger get the best of her. She was always able to keep her calm, even if others might have found it reasonable to be angry at something. She was also so patient... and caring. Am I fond of Shepard? Yes, she was like a sister I never had.

**Allers:** I have noticed a pattern lately. Vakarian had said similar. Do you think many of her friends thought of her as family?

**Tali:** Oh yes... You know if anyone else had been leading this team I don't think we would be as.. close as we all are now. Her last squad was extremely different from one another, but even then they were able to work together in ways no one else could have imagined.

Take Jack and Miranda for example. They had nothing in common and they just wanted to hate each other, and possibly kill each other. But Shepard managed to get them to work together as a team. In a way I think it's... a maternal trait Shepard might have. Like a mother working with unruly kids.

I think she would make a great parent someday...

Keelah I hope she's still alive. Poor Liara, she has been so devastated.

**Allers:** Some have speculated that Shepard and Liara were more than close. Could you confirm this?

**Tali:** They were together. Shepard always had a special sort of... look for Liara. Being Quarian you learn to watch body language. You see facial expressions a lot clearer than other races too. Shepard's eyes, they were always telling. She never kept anything hidden, if you knew how to look. But there was just.. something different in the way her eyes lit up whenever she was around Liara. Especially in the beginning, after they first met.

After time I saw it change, soften, and show a sense of happiness. Shepard was not one to share much of her personal life, but I knew. Shepard loved Liara more than anything. The same can be said of Liara. She practically worshiped Shepard.

**Allers:** What was Shepard like off duty?

**Tali:** (There's a soft chuckle coming from her voice synthesizer). She was a playful person. She was always teasing people, but never in a bad way. She was a bit mischievous too. Not the sort to go around pulling horrible pranks, but kind of a child like playfulness. She was always around others, ready to make people laugh. She would joke at her own expense sometimes.

She had this sort of... charm about her too. I think that's what caught Liara's interest at first. Oh Liara might say it was the Prothean Beacon on Eden Prime, but I know better. I saw it in her face, the way she carried herself around Shepard. She was interested before fully knowing what was going on.

But that's beside the point... Shepard off duty was very different from Shepard on duty... On duty Shepard was mostly business. She was a leader, a real one. She could play as hard as she could work, and she knew how to watch out for her people. She was there for all of us, and we know she cared, and I think that is why we all followed her.

**Allers:** How do you think Shepard felt during the Reaper war?

**Tali:** (She's silent a moment, perhaps thinking.) She was depressed. (another pause. She says no more)

**Allers: **How do you know...?

**Tali:** (She looks down, at the floor, wringing her fingers together) She stopped laughing as much as she use to. She didn't smile nearly as often either. Sometimes, you could see her smile, or hear her laugh but they seemed... Almost forced.

The Reapers showed up... People started dieing... All the different species were at each other's throats. Cerberus was up to no good, and trying to unite the Krogans and the Turians... Garrus told me all about that. He said it was a difficult thing, trying to keep both sides happy long enough to broker peace. Especially when some Salarian woman tried to sabotage the whole thing.

Then there... was us.. Quarians, and the Geth. We wanted or home planet back, we knew the Reapers were here, but we... just stopped functioning rationally, suddenly we were so focused on retaking Rannoch from the Geth. I don't know how she managed it, but Shepard managed peace between us as well.

Keelah.. I didn't stop to think about it at the time, but she was absolutely exhausted. I don't know how she managed to do any of it in the end... I suppose she had little choice, but anyone else and... I don't think we'd be alive right now.

**Allers:** Do you think, if the Council, if the Alliance, if anyone with the power to do something, had listened to Shepard three years ago, that the war with the Reapers might have gone better? Less deaths, less chaos?

**Tali:** Doubtful. Even if they had listened, if we had prepared... I think the desperation Shepard had, that her crew had, to keep the Reapers at bay long enough to even have a chance at being ready... I think we would have grown too confident if we were ready. Perhaps we would have never had the data Liara found on mars, maybe even if we were prepared the Reapers would have destroyed us without so much as a blink.

I don't know... Too many possibilities to be truly certain. I think it all happened the way it should have. It's not much of a comforting thought, but at least we made it. At least we are alive.

**Allers:** Do you think Shepard ever doubted winning against the Reapers?

**Tali:** (Her head tilts in such a way where I can't tell if she's questioning me or wondering if I'm insane for asking) I don't think she doubted it. I'm... not really sure. She never spoke words of doubt to any of us. I mean she was always telling us that we could do the impossible, that we were the best of the best. You know, encouraging us, and that no matter what we would come out on top.

We all believed her, and well.. We did come out on top. We're still alive, and in one piece. It was hard, and at times distressing, but she was right. I never heard her doubt anything before. I don't think she even knew what doubt means. When ever any of us doubted anything she would tell us why we shouldn't, you know?

Perhaps it wasn't so much she didn't know how to doubt... but maybe she just couldn't afford to. So much depended on our winning the day... Doubting, even for a second, may have costed us all everything.

So no, she never had doubts.

**Allers: **How did you feel about Shepard being apart of Cerberus?

**Tali:** She was never apart of Cerberus. None us were. We just needed their resources to do our mission. She never trusted them, and she was right not to. They turned around and tried to kill her in the end. That's how I feel about it.

**Allers:** But if it wasn't for Cerberus Shepard might not of had a second chance at life.

**Tali:** (She pauses, looked away, as if in thought) I suppose that much is true. Perhaps that's the only good thing they did for humanity. For the Galaxy as a whole. I guess if they hadn't brought her back we would be discussing a different story entirely.

**Allers:** I only have one more question. (Tali nods) If Shepard were here, right now, what would you say to her?

**Tali:** That being apart of her crew has changed my life in so many ways. That if it were not for her... I would not have a homeworld to go back to. That the Quarians are still alive today because she was able to make peace between us and the Geth. That she is the best thing to happen to the galaxy as a whole.

Keelah Se'lai, Captain Shepard.


End file.
